The present invention relates to the structure of power connectors which carry electric current from a power source on one module, thru pressed joints with the connector, to the power input terminal in an integrated circuit chip (IC-chip) on another module.
Throughout the history of the IC-chip industry, the number of transistors which have been integrated into a single IC-chip has steadily increased; and consequently, the amount of current which is needed to supply power to the IC-chip has also steadily increased. Today, a typical CMOS microprocessor IC-chip requires a power source which can supply about fifty amps; and, the projections are that in a few years, a typical microprocessor IC-chip will require a power source which can supply about one-hundred-fifty amps.
In the prior art, a common practice is to attach the IC-chip to one module and send electrical power to the IC-chip from a power source which is on another separate module. This is done, for example, in test equipment which sequentially tests a large number of IC-chips that are mass produced. There a printed circuit board is provided which holds several of the IC-chips that are to be tested; and this printed circuit board is sequentially connected and disconnected to the test equipment thru a power connector and a signal connector. The power connector carries current from a power source to the IC-chips on the printed circuit board while the signal connector carries test signals to and from those IC-chips.
Conventionally, the power connector is a "pin and socket" type of connector. In this type of connector, the "pin" is a solid metal cylinder with a typical length of about one inch and a typical diameter of about one-half inch; and, the "socket" is a metal member that has cylindrical shaped hole into which the pin snugly fits.
However, a problem with the pin and socket type of connector is that each time a connection is to be made, the pin must be perfectly aligned with the hole in the socket. If the pin is out of line with the socket hole, then the pin will hit the socket when they are moved together; and damage to the connector and/or the two modules can occur. This damage can be quite extensive where the two modules are moved together automatically by mechanisms which are motor driven. To avoid such damage, various alignment mechanisms can be employed; however, any alignment mechanism adds to the cost of the overall system.
Also in the prior art, a "fuzz button" type of connector has been disclosed which avoids the alignment problem of the pin and socket type of connector. A fuzz button consists of a thin strand of wire which has been wadded up into the shape of a button. In a fuzz button type of connector, the fuzz button is held in a hole on a flat surface of the connector, and a portion of the fuzz button protrudes from the hole past the flat surface. This connector is attached to one module; a flat metal contact pad is provided on the other module; and a connection is made between the two modules by pressing the portion of the fuzz button which protrudes from the hole against the flat contact pad. Here, the fuzz button need not be perfectly aligned with the contact pad.
However, one problem with the fuzz button type of connector is that the hole which holds the fuzz button must always be kept in an upright position. Otherwise, the fuzz button can fall out of the hole and thereby make the connector inoperable. Thus the fuzz button is not suitable for use in a printed circuit board which holds several IC-chips that are to be tested, and which is manually handled with various orientations as it is repeatedly connected and disconnected to the test equipment.
Also, another problem with the fuzz button is that its thin strand of wire has a current carrying capacity of only about one amp. Thus, to carry fifty to one-hundred fifty amps of current to the power input of an IC-chip, a connector which holds a large number of fuzz buttons would be required. However, that presents a reliability problem because as the number of fuzz buttons in a connector increases, the probability of one or more fuzz buttons falling out of their respective hole increases.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a connector for sending current to the power input of an IC-chip by which all of the above described problems are avoided.